‘The Daily Show’ Puts Franklin From ‘Peanuts’ in Perspective With a ‘This Is America’ Riff (Video)

Roy Wood Jr. and Trevor Noah explain how the first African American character in the long running comic strip was both groundbreaking and awkward

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11:13 pm CDT, Thursday, August 9, 2018

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‘The Daily Show’ Puts Franklin From ‘Peanuts’ in Perspective With a ‘This Is America’ Riff (Video)

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July 31st was the 50th anniversary of “Peanuts” character Franklin. So on Thursday’s “The Daily Show,” Trevor Noah and Roy Wood Jr. looked at how Charlie Brown’s first African American friend was both groundbreaking, and often super awkward.

“‘Peanuts’ in the 60s had the same kind of cultural dominance as ‘Friends’ in the ’90s,” said Noah, who noted that the strip had 100 million readers. Noah then joked that “Friends,” “unlike ‘Peanuts’ never managed to add a full-time black friend.”